God is now going to bring both roles of these previous “types” into a complete and final fulfillment that ushers in the second coming of His Son as the Messiah (the Christ-the ordained ruler) over all mankind.
This posting cannot cover all of the exciting revelation that God is giving concerning what His purpose is and what is meant by the expression of “restoring all things” in the commission of the end-time Elijah. It is about a “work” that God is doing in and through His human instruments, primarily through His Church.
In order to receive a far greater understanding of the inspiration, plain truth, and excitement of what God is now revealing, I am encouraging every one of you (if you have not already done so) to listen to some of this new truth as it is covered far more thoroughly in the sermon on Dec. 26, 2009, entitled, “Restoring All Things,” and in the current sermon series entitled, “Ordinations & Baptisms.”
Finding Fault
The numerous groups that have formed from the scattering that took place during the apostasy of the Worldwide Church of God in December, 1994, are busy responding to what God is currently revealing to the Church through me as His end-time Elijah. They are quick to find fault in order to belittle and ridicule what God is now revealing.
Some are much like the Pharisees who were always so quick and eager to find fault in anything Christ taught. They seethed at the notion that God would work or say such things through a man like Jesus. Yet in actuality, they were finding fault with the very Son of God, their very Passover Lamb.
It is no different today. Much of the leadership and membership in such organizations are not able to contain themselves with glee over what they think they now see as far clearer proof that I could not be of God; yet I am (of God)!
The very thing they fight against and refuse to embrace is the very truth that could help them escape what is coming. Those who refuse to repent and listen to what God is telling them will not be blessed to see the “promised land” that has been prophesied to come for so long now. The millennium is almost here, and only a small percentage will be allowed to enter. Most will have to wait until a future time when they will be “spiritually awakened” after they are physically resurrected in the final hundred years of mankind.
As much as the Pharisees hated the thought of Christ being the Messiah, most of those from the Church that have been scattered loathe the thought that I could possibly be the “Elijah to come,” let alone be one of the two end-time prophets and witnesses of God. Yet it is true. It is just a reality that so many do not yet accept. Human pride is such a shameful thing. As with the Pharisees, who knew there were words of truth in what Jesus Christ was saying, but refused to listen because he was threatening their authority and their belief that they were the true custodians of the word of God, there are many scattered groups and their leaders who are of this same deceived attitude and spirit today.
A Curse On Women
As talked about in recent sermons, which I referred to earlier, one of the first things to be revealed that God is now beginning to address to His Church is the need to restore a far better and more correct mindset toward the role of women in society, especially within the Church and the family. From the beginning, Satan led the first two humans into sin in his effort to begin his work of seeking to destroy God’s plan for His Family—Elohim—and did so by striking out at the first human family.
Satan’s success in leading these two people to sin (due to the selfishness and pride of human nature) led to consequences. It resulted in that which all sin leads, the opposite of being blessed for obedience, but instead reaping curses for disobedience. Curses are the result of not being blessed and given favor by God. It is a matter of natural physical consequences that God has imposed upon nature when His sustaining power of preservation and favor is removed.
Sin infects the mind and alters how a person thinks. It distorts the capacity for sound and practical thinking as it leads to perverted and distorted reasoning that is further fueled by the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. When Adam and Eve sinned, the mind of man began to turn farther away from sound mindedness that can only come from God. Only God can reveal the way to right thinking and right relationships among people, and that is especially true in the context of this posting of how men think toward women. Even in reading this, many men will “think” that their thinking is right toward women, and yet it is not, and much must yet be changed!
In marriage, the right relationship between a husband and wife should be the most exciting and most rewarding relationship in life. However, this “got off on a wrong foot” from the very beginning.
Ever since man chose the way of sin (as all have, except Jesus Christ), men have not rightly respected women, not even their own wives (when married), and have instead ruled “over” women in a wrong manner that is authoritarian, controlling and demeaning (looking down as being lesser). This is what constitutes a large part of the curse upon women that has existed from the beginning. Over the centuries, even within the Church, that curse has only partially been lifted to the degree that individuals have repented of mistreatment of others and have truly sought to “change” self and become more God-like in character and thinking (in harmony with the truths and laws of God). But women have still been suppressed by being morally mistreated, demeaned, and held to an inferior state by men. And most sad of all, this has been perpetuated by husbands because of male ego, lust and pride.
God is now starting the greater process (which only partially started in the Church over the centuries) of restoring the dignity and honor that He intended women should have from the beginning. This is part of the “healing” process that is prophesied to fill the earth in the Millennium, as Satan and his demons are removed from the presence of mankind, and as Jesus Christ receives rule of all the earth. This healing process is now beginning to be restored in God’s Church as we accelerate toward that new age for all mankind. In this context, this is the greater fulfillment of the prophecy that states, “And those from among you shall build the old waste places and you shall raise up the foundations of many generations, and you shall be called, ‘The repairer of the breach, the restorer of paths to dwell in'” (Is. 58:12).
Of even greater inspiration is the literal translation from Hebrew that states, “And those from among you shall build from the destruction caused of old [ancient times] and you shall raise up the foundations of many generations, and you shall be called ‘The repairer of the break, the restorer [Heb. – “to set again,” “to reestablish”] of paths to dwell in.'”
Those who will be part of this work are blessed to help restore the God intended role and purpose of both man and woman in marriage and in society. When God’s government, love, and true purpose are more firmly reestablished in the foundation of marriage, the structure of the family will become far stronger than ever experienced in the previous 6,000 years. The human family will be given a giant boost that more readily leads into the very Family of God—Elohim.
The liberation of all races and nationalities is rapidly approaching, and at the top of that list is the true liberation of women from the demeaning state in which they have been “ruled over.” This also produces a liberation for man that yields a more fulfilling and rewarding life, a greater unity and oneness with God, and the greater experience of what true masculinity was intended to be from the beginning.
Ordination of Women
It is in the midst of this restoration that is coming from God, through His Church to this world, that God has now revealed that women can be ordained to ministerial service in His Church. As this latest sermon series (“Ordinations and Baptisms”) is giving the soundness and balance of how this will exist in His Church, there are distinctions of service that will be different between men and women. Such distinctions of service will not exist because of the lesser ability, insight, understanding, or stature of women. It is because of the differences God established that would constitute the qualities that are genuine and true in all that reflects a unique beauty in the femininity of women, just as there is service that is only intended for men that God has created which constitutes right qualities of true masculinity.
True masculinity and true femininity can only be understood by how God defines each. Such truth and spiritual sound minded understanding can only come from God through the power of His spirit working in us.
God has revealed that the role of preaching in the environment of the formal Sabbath service is that of a masculine role, as God has defined it to be. That is not a feminine role, and if women did speak in a formal Sabbath environment, it would make a woman appear to have characteristics of masculinity that are not edifying or natural (as God created it to be).
God has revealed that women are to be ordained into ministerial service as elders. There is to be no distinction within the Church for the term “elder” (spiritual service) that would differentiate between a man or woman. Even for the office of a prophet, the term is simply “prophet” without a distinction of gender.
Within the Church, a woman would not be ordained to an apostle, evangelist or pastor because of many of those duties that God has set aside as masculine in nature. A woman can be ordained to that of a prophet or elder (sr. elder, elder, or associate elder).
The understanding God is currently giving concerning the removal of a curse upon women (and men) from the beginning is to begin the fulfillment of the prophesied role (work) of the “Elijah to come.” That “work” is about final preparations God is making for the return of His Son, Jesus Christ.
As John the Baptist baptized thousands into a baptism of repentance in preparation for the first coming of Jesus Christ, God’s Church is now preparing for massive numbers of baptisms into the Body of Christ in preparation for the second coming of Jesus Christ. Women will play as crucial a role in this as men will. Both men and women who are ordained may lay hands upon a person after baptism for the purpose of the impregnation of God’s spirit. Such a role is neither masculine nor feminine, but of God through the power of His spirit.
As Paul wrote in Galatians 3:27 & 28, “For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” The Family of God, including the begotten Family, is not a matter of gender. And so in ordination and the laying on of hands that God has chosen for His ministry to perform for the impregnation of His spirit for all who are baptized, this process in no manner reflects male or female in distinction, but the power of God to beget.